Baked Alaska...it's Hot

by Mick Ryan May/2007This news story has been read 2,551 times

Japanese Trio

Baked Alaska...it's hot? Seems like it.

With 550 people attempting to reach the top of the world, that would be Everest, it is almost ho-hum to report on the latest Everest stunt; naked whilst eating a banana, on a unicycle whilst juggling, reciting Wordsworth whilst listening to Eminem on an iPod, iChatting to your Mum whilst writing your Will, youngest, oldest, one legged, first transvestite riding an elephant and on and on.

Still, the bragging rights are huge, let's hope they match the experience. But we can't say of course, well most of us can't. Celebrity culture has systemically infected the climbing community. Now then, there's an idea! An episode of of Big Brother on the summit.

Interested in reading about stunts at altitude? You can probably read all about it here, everestnews.com, all the everest news that's fit to print, apparently. Well, at least it grabs the publics' and most importantly the sponsors' lack of imagination. It's a shop not a news site. There's a few of them about.

But in Alaska. That's where the real climbers are. Highlights from the last week or so at UKClimbing.com.

Gareth Hughes and Vivian Scott made the first ascent of the East Face of Mt. Dan Beard

Jon Bracey and Andrew Houseman making the second ascent of The French Route on the formidable North Buttress (a.k.a. Moonflower Buttress) of Alaska's Mount Hunter (4441m-14,573ft) .

Mike 'Twid' Turner, Simon Hitchens and Phil Jeffery making three fresh ascents up the Kitchatna Spires.

And now, as Dougald MacDonald reports at UKClimbing.com's affiliate climbing news site, Climbing.com (the website of Climbing magazine) a Japanese threesome has climbed a trio of hard new routes in the Ruth Gorge of the Alaska Range. Fumitaka Ichimura, Yusuke Sato, and Yamada Tatsuro spent 24 days in the Ruth in April and made five attempts on unclimbed lines, three of them successful.